June 3, 1992: The Shrug

CHICAGO - John Paxson dribbled up the right side of the court, stopped and spun back, then threw a cross-court pass to an inexplicably open Michael Jordan. Jordan went up for the shot. Swish. It was his sixth 3-pointer of the half, giving him a Finals-record 35 first-half points. When the shot went in, Jordan turned toward the broadcast table, where the recently retired Magic Johnson was sitting. Catching Magic's eye, Jordan famously shrugged, as if to say "Even I have no idea what's going on."

I'm not buying it, Michael. You knew exactly what was going on.

See, you were the most vengeful, competitive athlete of your generation, and you were always looking for the next reason to dominate an opponent, the slightest challenge so that you could reassert your supremacy.

With Magic retired and Larry Bird soon to join him, the NBA was looking for a new rivarly to replace the one that had carried the league through the 80s. Portland had Clyde Drexler, a talented player who played the same position as Jordan - he was even the same height and shaved his head the same way. So before the 92 Finals, the Jordan vs. Drexler matchup was played up. Drexler was announced as Jordan's biggest rival, and everybody was comparing the two as if the matchup would be a wash.

As if. Jordan obliterated Drexler in the series, outscoring him in five of the six games, outshooting him 53 percent to 41 percent for the series, and leading the Bulls to a second straight title. Game 1 was the biggest mismatch, as Jordan outscored Drexler 39 to 16 and the Bulls won 122-89.

To add to the misery, the Trail Blazers before the series announced openly to the press that their game plan was to make the Bulls make 3-pointers to beat them, boldly giving away their strategy against the defending champions. So there was a reason Jordan made six 3-pointers when he probably could have just as easily driven to the hoop.

So don't tell me, Michael, that the shrug meant "I don't know what's going on." You knew fully well what that meant. It meant "Well, they're gonna have to come up with something else now." Or it meant "I guess they're not that good, are they?"

After the series was over, Jordan continued his evisceration of Drexler when both joined that summer's Dream Team. In practices leading up to the Olympics, Jordan took special pride in dominating Drexler, then pointing out Drexler's inadequacies for everybody present to hear. It got so bad that Magic pulled Jordan aside and told him to back off, lest Drexler's confidence got completely shot before the Olympics.

So yah. Jordan might have had a rival. But it wasn't Drexler. And the shrug told us that he knew that all along.